Home staging presents a house for sale in its ideal state — decluttered, clean, and expertly furnished. So YES. Staging and the reality of living in a house have very little in common…unless you’re a modern minimalist. For most of us, especially if we’ve been in the same house for years with many family members,…
Have you lived in the Bay Area forever and are wondering why you never heard of (or went to) Marina Bay in Richmond, near Point Richmond? More importantly, are you thinking how can you get into Marina Bay and figure out which is the best community for you? Me too! Marina Bay is a collection…
On a recent trip to Mexico, the sound of the ocean crashed with the sounds of building. Everywhere! Beautiful, modern condos in Puerto Vallarta had caught my eye on Airbnb. So I wondered: Is it really safe to buy a condo pre-construction in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico? How do you know the quality and that you’re…
What if you could make not-too-expensive updates to the house you’ve loved for so many years to make it easier for you, and / or your loved ones, to age in place with accessible, safe features? AARP has put together what they call a “HomeFit” Guide to help you do just that. It’s a very…
You know you’re a Bay Area home buyer when the idea of a “rentback” to a home seller gives you chills. What if the home owner doesn’t leave? What if you become a landlord? What if you have to end up evicting them? Enter the California Association of REALTORS® (CAR) form: “Seller in Possession.” Basically…
Here’s a success story of a life-long renter who found and bought her perfect home, a condo. My client had a perfect process for searching for houses and condos that led to a winning offer. She knew exactly what her criteria were — the home had to: be in an easy commute location, easy to…
Home sellers in Oakland, Alameda and some other East Bay cities need to decide whether to repair their sewer lateral, if necessary, or let the buyer pay for repairing the sewer lateral. It’s part of a program called East Bay Private Sewer Lateral (PSL) In Oakland, home sellers or home buyers where there is a…
The New York Times profiled of a Los Angeles house buyer who wrote a “love letter” to the seller. The buyer just happened to be a successful Hallmark romance movie writer. Was wooing the owner with a romantic letter how she got the house? Why many home sellers sand real estate agents won’t look at…
Qualifying for an FHA loan just became easier for buyers of properties with ADUs and other rental spaces. Mortgage lenders can now count income from small units of housing — known as Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) — built inside, attached to, or on the same property as a primary residence when underwriting a mortgage.* This exciting…
I buy my home buyer clients a home warranty for a typical reason: peace of mind. I’ll admit, it took my becoming a real estate agent to learn about the magic of home warranties. Most of us assume only new developments have warranties, just like a new dishwasher. Nope! In fact, I usually warn buyers…
